Improvement in preparation of resins



V UNrrEn STATES PATENT Ori ice.

EDWD. HUNT AND HENRY D. POGHIN, OF SALFORD, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN PREPARATION OF RESINS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 22,558, dated J anuary11, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWARD HUNT and HENRY DAVIS PocnIN, both ofSalford,in the county of Lancaster and Kingdom of GreatBritain,chemists,haveinventedImprovements in the Treatment andApplication of Resins and Resinous Substances; and we do hereby declarethat the following is a full and exact description thereof.

Our invention or discovery consists in certain new articles of commerceproduced from resin and resinous substances, and purified, clarified,and partially deprived of their color by an improved process.

To enable others to produce these new articles of commerce or secure theresults we have obtained, we proceed to describe the process asconducted in three different modes, according to the nature of theapparatus employed.

In each apparatus there is a still which receives the substances to bepurified, and one or more receivers communicating by a pipe or pipeswith the said still. Asteam-pipe,in connection with a boiler, isintroduced into and reaches to the bottom of the said still, where itradiates into various smaller pipes, perforated so as to allow of theexit of steam. The size of the said steam-pipe for a still capable ofholding six and a half tons of resin should, when the steam hereinaftermentioned is to be used at a pressure of ten pounds, be of the diameterof two inches.

The exact proportions and disposition of the several apparatuses, asherein described,is not material to the successful performance of thesaid invention; but it is material that the volume of steam should beabout that which would be introduced under the conditions hereinbeforementioned.

In the first mode of arrangement (apparatus number one) one receiveronly is used,and the communication between the receiver and the stillconsists of a single pipe of ordinary construction. In the second mode(apparatus number two) several receivers are employed, the communicationbeing direct from the still to one only of the said receivers, and thecommunication being continued by pipes from one receiver to the other.The third mode (apparatus number three) is that in which two receiversare employed, the communication of both with the said still being directand the pipes uniting and entering the said still as one at a pointdistant from the said still about three feet. These pipes are at theirpoint of union directly one above the other. The process as conductedwith apparatus number one is as follows: The substance to be operatedupon is broken into convenientlumps and thrown into the still. The stillis then fired until the substance melts, when steam at the pressurehereinbefore mentioned is turned into the steam-pipe, and, passingthrough the perforated pipes above mentioned, thoroughly permeates theentire contents of the said still. The still is meanwhile continuouslyfired until the temperature of the said still rises to about 600Fahrenheit, at which it is maintained until all such portions of thecontents of the said still as are capable of being volatilized havepassed from it into the receiver. The volatilization commences at atemperature of about 3909 Fahrenheit. The intromission of steam iscontinued during the entire period of the operation. The residuum in thestill consists principally of the foreign matters present in thesubstances before they were operated upon. The receiver is in thisarrangement kept as cold as it can be by the application of water orother means, so as effectually to condense the Whole of the volatilematter which has passed outof the said stillduringtheoperation- Thecontents of the said receiver will, on cooling, be found to consist of acertain amount of fluid and a certain amount of solid. The former(principally water condensed from the steam used in the process) isdrawn off. The latter is found to present the characteristics of rosin,or other of the resinous substances operated upon, as found in itspurest state. It is, however, at this stage still opaque, fromcontaining a considerable amount of moisture. Various modes may beadopted with effect to receive the moisture from the said solid, amongothers that of placing it within a vacuum-pan and heating it in theusual way, or placing it within a leaden vessel surrounded by a jacketthrough which steam is passed, or melting it in an open leaden vessel bymeans of steam and passing superheated steam through it when melted.

In the process as conducted with apparatus number two, the receivernearest to the still, and in the case of more than two receivers beingempioyed,every receiver,exceptthat farthest from the still, ismaintained at a temperature a little above'212 Fahrenheit. The contentsof the receivers nearest to the still are found to be transparent andalmost free from moisture. The rosin and resinous matters condensed inthe last receiver in the processes conducted by this apparatus alonecontain any moisture which it is necessary to remove. This moisture maybe removed in precisely the same manner as that indicated in the processhereinbefore described with reference to apparatus number one.

In the processas conducted. with apparatus number three the volatilematter arising from thesuhstances placed in the said still, ashereinbefore mentioned, arranges itself in two streams, the upper one,composed principally of steam, passing to receiver number one, and thelower one, consisting principally of rosin or resinous vapor, passing toreceiver number two. These receivers are kept at so low atemperature asto condense the whole of the products from thesaid still.

Various gases may be employed, instead'of the steam, with very similareffect; but we do not find the results equal to those obtained by steam.

Thesolid contents of the receivers during;

the distillation, as conducted by either of the abovementionedprocesses, are found to vary in their characteristics at differentstages of the process. At three stages of the process we find thisvariation tobe very marked, and wehave accordingly distinguished thedistillates as obtained during the three periods as follows: Thatobtained during the first stage of the distillation, and which amountsto about one-fourth of the original matter placedin the still, wecal1'alpha-rosin or alpha-resin, that which is obtained after theremoval of the said alpha-rosin or alpha-resin, and during the secondstage-of the-said process, and which also amountsto one-fourth of thesaid original inatter we call beta-rosin or beta-resin that obtained'iuthe said receiver on the removal of the said beta-rosin or beta-resin,and during the third stage of the said process, and which forms theremainder of the said original matter, we call gamma-rosin orgammaresin. These three several substances pre sent the characteristicsof resins, but clarified and to a great extent deprived of color. Theyare, either separately orin combination, applicable to and useful in themanufacture of several important articles of use-such as soap,

fatty matters, and for improving the quality of resin-oil obtained fromsubstances similar to those used by us in the processes hereinbeforedescribed 5 but such a process has never, so far as we can ascertain,been applied to any such substances as are proposed to be operated uponby our processes for the purposes of obtaining the resinous and solidproducts above specified as the result of our said processes.

We therefore claim as our invention or discovery and desire to havesecured to us by Letters Patent The new articles of commerce hereinabovespecified as produced by the processes hereinabove mentioned, or by anysimilar mode or process, said articles or products not having beenhitherto known in commerce or used in Witnesses:

THos. BRITTAU, SAMUEL LEE, Clerks with Mr. Biimey, Solicitor, 40 CrossStreet, Manchester.

